#hammertime

Happy Reformation Day! #hammertime

#jeepsparkedbyotherjeeps

Blue making friends in Rockwall. #jeepsparkedbyotherjeeps

Daddy-Daughter Dance 2019

Last Saturday night I got to go to my second Daddy-Daughter Dance sponsored by our school district. We had fun dressing up and going out to dinner. She wanted Whataburger. I tried to get her to go somewhere fancier, but she wanted Whataburger. We danced for an hour (she often abandoned me to dance with her group of friends in the middle of the dance floor but that was okay since I guess I need to get back in shape and was tired) and we were both worn out. So we left and went to Dairy Queen and had ice cream. A very nice night.

Expectations

The final trailer for the final episode of the Star Wars Skywalker Saga was released last night. To use James Joyce's terminology in Ulysses..."meh."

Ever since the disastrous Episode Eight: The Last Jedi, I've tried to keep my expectations low. This is a self-defense mechanism meant to protect me from further disappointment. As each Episode Nine (The Rise of Skywalker) trailer dropped I've tried to be Epictetus and just shrug it off. I mean, The Last Jedi was so awful it even brought down my estimation of Episode Seven: The Force Awakens.

My feelings about The Force Awakens were tenuous at best. The plot was derivative, a slick knock off of the original. How many giant space stations are out there in this Galaxy? A hero from a desert planet! Not to mention terrible acting from the guys who play Finn and Poe. And and and...dropping a potentially great story line about a Storm Trooper who in an act of conscience, joins the rebellion. They wasted a great opportunity for a very interesting story line even if the actor they chose can't deliver a line.

I satisfied myself that at least it was better than Episode One and Two and maybe, just maybe if I squinted hard enough, better than Revenge of the Sith. But Force Awakens got sucked into a black hole with the arrival of The Last Jedi. Everything associated with The Last Jedi has been tainted.

So, back to my original thought: keeping my expectations low for The Rise of Skywalker which comes out December 20th...

I can't do it. I can't keep my expectations low and here's why...unless this movie is a freaking cinematic masterpiece then continuing the Skywalker Saga was a complete waste of time. If it's an average movie, that still won't be enough to undo the damage of a mediocre Ep 7 and a terrible Ep 8. Only a movie of great brilliance can hope to possibly redeem the travesty of the Disney Star Wars movies.

I know those are unreal and unfair expectations. But I don't feel sorry for any of these guys. Disney's making billions. JJ Abrams is making millions. I will feel sorry for all the fans, past and future alike, who will have to come to the realization that this stuff is considered canon in the Star Wars universe even though it's mediocre at best and garbage at worst.

See, I can forgive George Lucas for the prequels. He's the creator. He has the right to screw it up. Maybe I shouldn't forgive him for selling out to Disney but that's a different story. These guys took something that wasn't theirs and screwed it up. They fumbled the ball. At least with the prequels it was George's ball to fumble.

You can still make good original Star Wars movies! Rogue One was excellent. Solo was great. It is possible to be original, creative and yet honor the spirit of the Saga. I've had several friends say that my views of the new movies are colored by nostalgia. I disagree. I know good stuff when I see it. That may sound delusional and narcissistic since art is subjective. But more and more of my fellow Star Wars fans are admitting how terrible The Last Jedi is and that The Force Awakens has not held up well in the intervening years. When it came out we were just excited to see the Millenium Falcon in action again and were relieved that the movie was better than The Phantom Menace. Now it seems kind of hokey and lazy.

So yeah, this Episode Nine better be good. It better be great. Otherwise this whole thing was an artistic and cultural mistake of unimaginable proportions. Yeah, I'm being unfair and hyperbolic. But I got a lot of emotional energy invested in this thing over a very long time, not to mention lots of cash spent on Star Wars paraphernalia. So I'm going to be a crank. And if this thing is great...then I will be the loudest voice in the choir singing its praises.

HBDWM

Another day, another blog post about a trumpet player. So it goes...

Today is Wynton Marsalis's birthday. He is the greatest living trumpet player in the world. He belongs on the Mount Rushmore of Jazz (my very subjective list: Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Marsalis).

The first time I heard of Marsalis is when my Grandmother gave me one of his early cassettes back in 1984 when I started playing the trumpet. She had seen him on PBS and he had just become the first person to win a Grammy in both Jazz and Classical music. That cassette tape was Hot House Flowers and it blew my fifth-grade mind.

I've seen Wynton Marsalis live only twice. Once in 1993 in the small auditorium at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas. I was in college playing trumpet in the jazz program at Southern Nazarene University and had driven up from Oklahoma to visit my parents in nearby McPherson, Kansas. They had gotten me tickets for my 20th birthday. The morning after the concert Marsalis taught a Masters Class in Jazz in the same auditorium. I got there an hour early so I could get a front row seat. I sat on the front row in the center and even got to ask Marsalis a question. He asked if I was a trumpet player. I answered back and then he answered my question. I will consider that a conversation! I had asked him his advice in increasing range.

The second time I saw Wynton Marsalis live was ten years later at the Lied Center at the University of Kansas in 2003. My wife had surprised me with tickets for my 30th birthday and we drove all the way up from to Texas to Lawrence, Kansas. We had seats on the front row. His Septet focused most of their evening on songs from their Majesty of the Blues album. And I remember thinking I had never seen a musician command the stage like Wynton Marsalis. It was fantastic. An unforgettable experience.

So Happy Birthday WM! Keep swingin'!

Grovey

Yesterday would have been Roy Hargrove's 50th birthday. He died last November. I blogged about his passing here. His passing hit me harder than most of the celebrities, artists or musicians you read about in the news. He was only three years older than me and he came to prominence while I was just starting college. I was playing trumpet in the jazz program at Southern Nazarene University and he was one of my trumpet idols. But he was different than most of my jazz heroes because he was so much closer to my age. Unfortunately I never got to see him play live.

So this morning I went to YouTube to watch one of my favorite live performances by The Roy Hargrove Quintet. His show at the New Morning Cafe in Paris, France was legendary. He played there many times but this appearance was back in 2010 before his health problems began to slow him down a bit. Unfortunately I was shocked to find that the video no longer exists on YouTube. It has been removed due to some copyright disagreement. The DVD of this concert is hard to find and the cheapest I could find a copy was $46. I knew I should have burned that YouTube performance before it was removed. Nothing good on YouTube sticks around forever. 

So, hopefully it will come back up someday. The world needs this kind of musical inspiration more than ever.

Creative Imaginings

Last night, my son went on a junior high band trip to the Meyerson Symphony Hall in downtown Dallas. They went to hear the Dallas Wind Symphony.

When I picked him up around 10:30 pm back at the high school he was visibly excited. He didn't stop talking about the concert experience the entire way home.

It warmed my heart to see his enthusiasm for music played extraordinarily well in an extraordinary venue.

Seeing great art performed by great artists can transport us to a different world. Witnessing creative genius can temporarily take us out of our sometimes dreary landscape and show us horizons of vibrant intensity. We grow and become different people when we see such creative imaginings.

I was happy to see that last night his world enlarged a bit. We've taken our son to the opera, concerts, art galleries, etc. But last night reminded me how important these experiences are to the development of our son and my daughter and that we must pursue them on a regular basis.

Fall Break

Nice four day weekend. Friday we drove up to Tulsa. Our daughter's big birthday present was my wife taking her to see her favorite singer, Lauren Daigle, in concert. Going to Tulsa also gave us a chance to see my Grandparents, Aunt and cousins. It was a nice smooth trip.

Yesterday (Monday) was Fair Day. We made our annual trek to the State Fair of Texas. I always love going to the Fair although we are always worn out by day's end. My tracker recorded over 13,000 steps. Someday, I'd like to just hang out in some shady cool place and people watch. There are so many strange people who make their way to the fair.

 We stopped at the Paris, Texas Eiffel Tower on the way back from Tulsa

The famous World of Birds show made its return after a five year hiatus and that was a highlight. Jackson and Ava got to sit in some fancy cars at the car show. We got to ride a few rides and play some Midway games. The Dog Stunt Show is always fun. We didn't make it to the Livestock Exhibits. And we always leave by 4 pm. We have never been to the fair at night. I can imagine that's a whole different experience.

Game Five, 1985

YouTube will sometimes throw out random suggestions for you based on your viewing history. Sometimes their suggestions are out of left field, others right on the mark.

This suggestion came up and immediately caught my eye. Game Five of the 1985 American League Championship Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Kansas City Royals. It caught my eye not only because it involved the Royals, it caught my eye because I was there, in person with my Dad, for the game.

I have never seen a re-broadcast of this game. I didn't even think to look for this game on tape. Of course it was on YouTube.

On October 13th, 1985, on a cloudy yet pleasant Sunday afternoon, my Dad took me to see the Royals in the playoffs. This was a huge deal for me. I was only twelve years old and the playoff format was much simpler at the time. There was no wild card game or divisional series. Only two teams from each league made "The Playoffs." The American League East winner vs the American League West winner and the same for the National League. Four teams total.

My Dad had scored tickets from one of my wife's bosses who had season tickets to the Royals. Season ticket holders had been given a certain allotment of tickets and they had two extra. So, after church on Sunday morning, we ate lunch and headed out to what was then called Royals Stadium. It was super exciting for me and my Dad. We sat in the upper deck along the first base line. There are no bad seats in that stadium and we had a great view.

I remember thinking the crowd was different than other Royals games I had attended. We went to a lot of games because my Mom's boss often gave us left over season tickets. This upper deck crowd was different than the normal crowd, more upper crust. I could sense that as a 7th grader. I remember one guy, dressed in a sports jacket and button down shirt watching an NFL game on his tiny portable black and white TV just a few rows over from us. Those little TV's were expensive back then. I also remember thinking this game must not be all that big of a deal to that guy if he was watching a game that didn't involve the Chiefs (who stunk that year anyway).

The Royals had dug them selves out of 2-0 hole in the series and now it was tied up 2-2. It was essential they win this one before heading back to Toronto. This was the first year the ALCS had been expanded to seven games and the format was 2-3-2. The Blue Jays had home field advantage so KC needed a win.

Young twenty-three year old Danny Jackson pitched a gem: a 2-0 complete game shutout. I don't remember too many of the details of the actual game. I remember Lonnie Smith stealing third and then Brett getting him in on a sacrifice. I remember Balboni hustling his heart out to second when George Bell threw the ball to third trying to get Frank White out. Balboni couldn't run and that was amazing base running.

I remember having a great time with my Dad on a day that was intermittently cloudy and sunny on a fine October day in Kansas City. I remember buying a pennant and a program which I still have. Of course KC would win the ALCS and go on to win the World Series in dramatic fashion. Thirty years later I took my son to Game Two of the 2015 World Series.

I'm thankful to whoever posted this video. It's been fun watching this game and knowing that my Dad and I are there up in the upper deck on the first base side about even with the base. What a great day.

Terra Cotta

Here's another slick video on YouTube that I sometimes like to show to my classes. It focuses on the discovery of the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi, the first emperor of China. The accidental discovery of the terra cotta warriors that guard the tomb in 1974 is the greatest archaeological discovery of my lifetime. This is an amazing story.

Blue Reflections

Blue likes to look at himself in the reflection of the back door of buses. I'm worried he might be a bit narcissistic.